Safe Haven

Chapter 9 Safe Haven

The meal had been a delight for both host and guest. Afterward, neither of them idled about—one grabbed a broom, the other a rag—and working together, they thoroughly finished the spring cleaning Chu Mu had left undone.

The entire residence could not be called completely transformed, but it was visibly much tidier. It was not until close to curfew that Xu Yuan had no choice but to leave.

The courtyard returned once more to its usual quiet.

Late at night, when all was still and it should have been time to sleep, Chu Mu remained anything but idle.

Studying and martial training had practically consumed all of Chu Mu's energy.

He studied only to learn to read, to better integrate into this era.

But martial training was Chu Mu's true source of hope.

Though Spirit Radiance Value existed, Chu Mu had no idea whether these saber forms could actually produce any results.

Yet for now, these saber forms were undoubtedly the only thing on which Chu Mu could pin his hopes.

After all, no External Force could compare to becoming powerful himself—not to mention that, at present, he had no External Force to rely on...

The rather weighty blade blossomed through the courtyard once more. Without Spirit Radiance Blessing, it had lost some of its unrestrained sharpness and gained a measure of clumsiness. Only the gleam in his eyes remained as earnest and focused as ever.

This time, Chu Mu trained a little longer. He went through the saber forms more than ten times before the soreness in his body once again gave way to weakness, forcing him to stop.

After martial training came study, naturally.

A day of grueling lessons had not exactly yielded a bumper harvest, but he had learned quite a few characters. If he went straight to sleep without reviewing them, how many would he still remember when he woke tomorrow morning? That was anyone's guess.

The candlelight in the bedroom flickered, stretching the figure bent over the desk long beneath its glow. Only deep into the night did the flame finally go out.

The night... passed peacefully. By morning, Chu Mu woke naturally.

The morning was still chilly, yet the flow of people on the streets had not diminished by much. Those at the bottom scraping out a living had no right to complain about the weather.

Chu Mu also rose early and changed into the uniform armor of the Patrol Bureau.

It was called armor, but it was really just a thick blue cotton-padded jacket. The jacket had clearly been specially treated; it felt stiff and hard to the touch, with iron plates embedded inside the lining. Its defensive capability should have been fairly good.

After putting on this armor, its only apparent benefit was that the bulkiness made his thin frame seem somewhat sturdier.

In the bronze mirror's reflection, the young man holding a saber now carried a little more martial valor.

His gaze lingered for a moment. Then Chu Mu smiled for no apparent reason, shook his head, and strode out the door.

As Xu Yuan had said yesterday, the Patrol Bureau's day shift answered roll call at the beginning of the hour of the dragon each day—around seven in the morning by his previous life's reckoning. After roll call, everyone went about their respective duties.

It was still early, so Chu Mu was in no hurry. He stopped at a Stall Vendor's stand on the street for a steaming bowl of meat noodles, filling his empty stomach and leaving his whole body feeling far more comfortable.

The Patrol Inspectorate office stood south of the town, beside the mines, not far from Chu Mu's home. His residence was located in the center of town, so nowhere in town was particularly distant from it.

In about A Quarter of an Hour, Chu Mu arrived outside the Patrol Inspectorate office.

Compared with the grandeur and authority of the county Patrol Bureau in the Original Owner's memories, this Patrol Inspectorate was clearly much inferior.

A plaque bearing the words "Patrol Inspectorate" hung overhead, but no one stood guard at the entrance. Beyond the gate lay a broad open space. Beneath the eaves along one side, sabers, spears, swords, and halberds were arranged in rows, while stone weights of varying sizes were piled in a corner.

In the Original Owner's memories, this training ground was practically just for show. It was only used as a gathering place for the daily roll call.

What he saw now was more or less identical to the scenes in those memories, with no difference to speak of.

"Chu Mu!"

Just as Chu Mu was surveying the Patrol Inspectorate, a shouted call rang out, interrupting his thoughts.

"Squad Leader."

Chu Mu turned around. A middle-aged man with a mustache shaped like the character eight came into view, and Chu Mu promptly cupped his fists in greeting.

The man was Wu Shuo, the Squad Leader who had handled matters for him when he came to confirm his patrol post a few days ago. He was also the superior of the superior of the Original Owner's father at this Patrol Inspectorate.

Under the Patrol Inspectorate's organization, the most basic unit was a team; above a team was a squad, and above a squad was a Hundred Household. Wu Shuo commanded One Squad, so his status in this Patrol Inspectorate was hardly low.

"Have you settled matters at home?"

Chu Mu quickly replied, "Reporting to Squad Leader, they've been settled. I came to report for duty today."

"If you'd delayed any longer, I would've had to send someone to hurry you along. Our Patrol Inspectorate is desperately short of men right now."

"Come. I'll take you to register first, then I'll arrange work for you."

Wu Shuo waved a hand and began walking, his expression clearly troubled.

Chu Mu's heart skipped a beat. It was not convenient to say anything at this moment, so he did his best to maintain the Original Owner's withdrawn temperament and silently followed behind Wu Shuo, step for step.

The Patrol Inspectorate office was not large. Beyond the training ground was the main hall, with several rooms on each side. Further back was the rear courtyard, where successive Hundred Households of the Patrol Inspectorate resided. That was clearly not somewhere an ordinary patrolman could enter.

After following Wu Shuo around, registering with the clerk in a side hall, and then returning to the main hall, it was nearly the beginning of the hour of the dragon. Quite a few patrolmen had already gathered in the office.

"All right, stop chatting nonsense. Men of Third Squad, get over here!"

Wu Shuo strode to the front of the hall and shouted. The patrolmen gathered in twos and threes across the training ground immediately converged before the hall.

Once the patrolmen had assembled, Wu Shuo swept his gaze around before finally looking toward a burly, bearded man at the front of the line. "Li Gang, this kid is called Chu Mu. He was just entered into the register today. For now, he'll be assigned to your team."

"Fine."

The burly man's eyes, large as bronze bells, settled on Chu Mu. After sizing him up from head to toe, he turned back to Wu Shuo and answered in a deep, muffled voice.

Seeing this, Chu Mu hurried down the steps before the hall and quickly went to stand in the line where the bearded man was positioned.

The patrol officers from the various squads stood there quietly, each wearing a different expression. Some were indifferent, some expressionless, but more of them were like Chu Mu, carrying a faint unease as they faced a new environment and a new life.

For the escort of over a thousand Forced Laborers, Qinghe County had mobilized nearly a hundred patrol officers—yet they had vanished without a sound.

The county yamen's compensation for the families of patrol officers who died in the line of duty consisted of silver and official posts. These past few days, new faces had been the one thing every patrol bureau lacked least. The Nanshan Patrol Bureau was vast in scale, and there were more new faces than one could count.

These new faces undoubtedly shared the exact same identity as Chu Mu.

Even having lived two lives, Chu Mu could not hide his unease at this moment.

When he had first arrived at that little courtyard, it had taken him nearly ten days to adapt. By now, it had become a Safe Haven deep in his heart.

But now, he had stepped out of that Safe Haven and entered an almost entirely unfamiliar environment...

What would the future bring?

As the morning sun rose, Chu Mu pressed his lips together, his thoughts drifting far and wide...